RSA Films' Marie Schuller Makes Reality Optional in New Campaign from AI Video Platform Pika
We’re eating microplastics. We’ll never be able to retire. Everything, frankly…sucks. So today Pika, the social-first AI video platform that brings your wildest and weirdest ideas to life, launches a new campaign depicting how it gives you the power to change your reality. Maybe not for good, but for a minute. Pika’s campaign anthem film, “Pikapocalypse,” developed by the Pika creative team with production and marketing support from Ceiling Train, directed by RSA Films’ Marie Schuller and edited by Abandon’s Val Thrasher, shows users how swapping and morphing pieces of their world—their cat’s poop into a beautiful bonsai, for example—can make reality optional. And certainly more fun.
“With Pika, people can transform their content into whatever their hearts desire,” says Pika Head of Brand and Content Lindsay Brillson. “So, with our ‘Pikapocalypse’ film, we wanted to show the outer edges of those possibilities. The story taps into the current moment and our collective mindset in a renegade and provocative way. We may not be able to solve society’s problems, but we can help you have a little fun and create a reality that reflects your wildest desires.”
Pika CEO Demi Guo, explains, “We wanted the piece to challenge who AI is for and what they can do with it. Unlike a lot of competitors, we focus on the everyday social creator – and we wanted the expansive creative possibilities of our platform to come through equally with the ease of use.”
“Pikapocalypse” highlights a number of Pika’s most viral and social-first features including:
• Pikaffects - apply unreal AI effects to your photos and videos. Pika is a template-focused video platform – with Pikaffects, users have a simple and wildly creative way to alter the content in their camera roll. All users need to do is upload a photo or video, then choose from hilarious and bizarre effects. Cake-ify, inflate, melt, explode your content. Take a selfie with your younger self. Try pink hair, or go bald. The opportunities are endless: transformations, look swaps, memes and more.
• Pikaswaps - the ultimate double take; lets you swap objects in your real-world video with wild modifications and alterations, so any piece of your video can become something entirely new.
• Pikadditions - add anyone or anything to any video. Shock your followers with surprise objects, animals, characters, and more, while keeping the original video totally intact.
According to Ceiling Train Founder and EP Christina Cooksey, “A traditional, live action shoot for an AI brand feels rebellious, and that was the intent. It was really important for us strategically to build the world in the film practically so we could show how Pika augments and enhances your own real-world content.”
That’s where Director Marie Schuller and Editor Val Thrasher come in. “Pika's take on how they position themselves within this word felt really refreshing to me,” RSA Films’ Marie Schuller enthused, “because they saw themselves as a token of irreverent, ridiculous, hilarious and desperately needed entertainment. 'Everything is terrible. No, it's not,' is an incredibly dark humored line as we watch a meteor transform into a grinning dough face, but it made me laugh, and that's exactly what I would like to get out of a brand like Pika.”
"When I read this script I was immediately excited about editing this campaign,” says Abandon Editorial’s Val Thrasher. “It has a dark humor and unfolds in surprising ways, and the longer format of the project really allows for story and character development. Everyone involved was deeply committed to bringing this story to life in a way that would reveal itself to an increasingly curious audience; from the overall concept, to Marie’s visionary directing, to the pacing and shot choices, and the epic and ever-changing elements in the created world. It’s bold, creative and I am excited to see the reaction from the creator community.”
Schuller adds, “Pika has been incredible. Its people are visionaries and its possibilities are endless. If you've never blown up a cat or turned your partner into crunchy playdough, have you even lived through the absolute nightmare we are currently trying to navigate our way through?”
To support the brand campaign launch, Pika has developed a suite of Pikaffects that allow users to engross themselves in the campaign content and riff on their own reality. Eat a rat skewer. Turn your litter box into a zen garden. Emerge from an apocalyptic landscape. Users can defy reality in their own content by making themes from the launch their own.
Pika continues to expand its social video toolkit with easy ways to create content that stops viewers in their tracks. The launch of the Pikapocalypse campaign asserts Pika’s positioning as a leader in social-first AI video creation. Your content, and the world you present, will never be the same.
Credits:
Pika In-House Team:
Head of Brand and Creative: Lindsay Brillson
Founding Creative Director: Matan Cohen-Grumi
Creative Lead, Art: Monica Tan
Creative Lead, Copy: Haley Ray
Ceiling Train Content Studio:
Founder, Executive Producer: Christina Cooksey
Producer: Shelby Vaculin
Production Co.: RSA Films
Director: Marie Schuller
President/Executive Producer: Luke Ricci
Executive Producer: Jenni Sprunger
Producer: Nancy Ryan
DP: Thomas Revington
Producer (Romania): Iana Opran
Production Manager: Elspeth Vince
UPM: Marina Pavel
Production Designer: Adi Cristea
Editorial: Abandon Editorial
Editor: Val Thrasher
Assistant Editor: Eduardo Wong
EP: Joanna Hall
VFX and Color: The Mill
Sound Design: Sonic Union
Music By: Nightcap Music
Track Name: "La Course Folle"
Producers: Miranda Grieco and Dan Kuby
Vocalist/Lyricist: Cyrille Aimée (2x Grammy Nominee)
